Chambley’s Grand Slam Powers Bulldogs Past Purdue, 5-1

Sunday, February 11

Athens, Ga.

12 p.m.

University of Georgia

5-0

Purdue

3-2

Purdue

Georgia

Chambley’s Grand Slam Powers Bulldogs Past Purdue, 5-1

February 11, 2024 | Softball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – The sixth-ranked Georgia softball team remained perfect on opening weekend, defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at Jack Turner Stadium.

The Bulldogs climb to 5-0 on the young season.

Sydney Chambley continued her hot start to the season, knocking her third home run of the weekend, a grand slam, in the fifth to break the scoreless tie. Chambley finished the Red & Black Showcase hitting .500 (6-for-12) with three home runs, two doubles, and drove in 10. She slugged 1.417 with a .625 on-base clip.

Sydney Kuma added two hits of her own to finish opening weekend with a .750 average (9-for-12).

Sophomore Destin Howard worked two scoreless innings in her start, allowing just two hits and struck out one. Madison Kerpics (2-0) earned the win in relief, working three scoreless innings, giving up one hit, and striking out two. Lilli Backes pitched the final two innings, allowing one run.

A one-out Jayda Kearney single, a walk to Lyndi Rae Davis, and a hit batsman loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth. Chambley blasted a grand slam to right center to put Georgia on the board, 4-0. It was the third grand slam of her career.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases again in the sixth inning with two out. Sarah Gordon looked at ball four to drive in Georgia's fifth run of the game, 5-0.

Purdue (3-2) didn't go quietly in the seventh inning, putting the first two runners aboard. Kiara Dillon singled to right center to drive in the Boilermakers first run, breaking up the shutout. Ellie Armistead made a fantastic catch in the hole at short and flipped to Sara Mosley at third to complete the double play and end the game, 5-1.

The Bulldogs now set their sights on the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational Presented by EvoShield next weekend in Clearwater, Florida. Georgia begins play Thursday, Feb. 15 against Wisconsin. First pitch against the Badgers is set for 1 p.m., ET, live on SEC Network.

Head Coach Tony Baldwin
On today's game...
"I really thought the pitching and defense were the star of the weekend, honestly. We got some timely hits. We got some big hits. Fortunately, we were able to get the ball out of the ballpark some. That was most of our offense, really. We didn't string together a lot of hits, but at the end of the day, when you don't give up much on the defensive side then timely hitting is kind of the key. Big hit by Sydney Chambley today. I thought Destin [Howard] really came out, commanded the ball and gave us a great start. Madison [Kerpics] held us in the middle there, and then Lilli [Backes] made some big pitches at the end. Probably the player of the game was Ellie Armistead with the two sensational defensive plays. All in all, a great team weekend. We're 5-0 and can't ask for anything more."

On the pitching this weekend...
"The first inning for the backend of the bullpen there, for Destin [Howard], Rachel [Gibson], and Riley [Orcutt] were all outstanding. So excited to see them, all the work they've put in, the growth that they've had over the past six, eight months, come out in game play was pretty exciting. I feel really good about our top three, and if we keep getting those kind of outings from the other three, the backend, we're going to be alright."